![]() |
Sealed
with a kiss: Ratner gets a big wet one from activist Bertha Lewis
(right) after agreeing to set aside half of his 4,500 apartment units
to low-, moderate- and middle-income renters. For good measure, Lewis
also kissed Mayor Bloomberg. Photographic evidence makes it clear that
the famed ladies man Bloomberg enjoyed the kiss more.
June
Seizing the day: The Supreme Court
rules that cities are allowed to seize privately owned property on behalf
of private developers — a broad expansion of the notion of eminent
domain. The cheering from Forest City Ratner headquarters in Downtown
Brooklyn could be heard all the way to Bay Ridge.
July
Not so fast, part II: The MTA tells
Ratner that his $50-million bid for the rail yards is not enough, even
as the transit agency rejects a $150-million bid from a rival developer.
![]() |
Picture this: Ratner
gives the New York Times a sneak peak at Frank Gehry’s design for
the entire project — but the reaction to the Vegas-style skyscrapers
and Nets-logo friezes (right) is so negative that he eventually orders
his “starchitect” back to his drafting table.
August
Low “Standard”: A Park
Slope movie company turns down a chance to be profiled in Ratner’s
supposed community newspaper, “The Brooklyn Standard” —
and then publicly blasts the paper as “designed for the sole purpose
of promoting [the] project.” The film company need not have worried;
the Brooklyn Standard published just two issues in ’05.
September
Upping the ante: Ratner doubles
his bid to $100 million — which is still less than half the
$214-million value of the development rights, according to the MTA’s
own appraiser — and wins control of the 8.5-acres train yard air
rights.
Now you tell us?: A week after
Ratner secures his deal with the MTA, Borough President Markowitz makes
his first public request that Ratner downsize his mega-project.
October
Keep off!: The Papers reveals that
a one-acre park on the roof of the Gehry-designed arena — which Ratner
had once touted as “an exciting ... new public space [for] passive
recreation and active public space for community residents” —
will actually be off limits to the public. So much for the promised skating
rink and hot chocolate.
Buy me love: The Papers also reveals
that Ratner gave $5 million to supposed “community group” Brooklyn
United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD). That kind of money buys
a lot of friends.
November
Crackpot: Actress Rosie Perez doesn’t
do opponents of the Ratner development any favors by saying that the mega-project
would create unfriendly Manhattan-style neighborhoods. “When I lived
in Manhattan, I knew the crackhead on my corner better than my neighbors,”
she said. Ratner spokespeople immediately denied that 10 percent of their
housing units had been set aside for crackheads.
![]() |
He-a culpa: Frank Gehry tells a group of architects that his initial design for the Atlantic Yards was “horrible.” At the same meeting, he even posed for a photo with rabid opponent Patti Hagan (right). Amazingly, Gehry still has a job..
©2005 Community Newspaper Group
By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:
You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.